Thor3D Wins Case Against Artec in German Court

At the 3D Printing Business Directory we pride ourselves in working with some of the most fascinating companies in the industry. One of these is certainly Moscow based 3D scanner manufacturer Thor3D, whose recent history has seen the company go thorough some difficult times and yet overcome the challenges that have come before it. Now Thor3D is pleased to announce the end of a prolonged legal dispute with Artec Europe S.a.r.l. in Germany. On August 25th, 2016 the Dusseldorf Higher Court handed down a final decision in favor of Thor3D and the creator of the technology behind the scanner, Mr. Andrey Klimov. The disagreement between the two companies started in 2015, when Artec Europe S.a.r.l. mistakenly assumed that the recently-announced Thor3D scanner, might contain misappropriated technology. The company filed a claim in the Dusseldorf court asking the court to confiscate one of the Thor3D scanners at the Euromold 2015 exhibition for an independent review. The court granted the request, and a prototype of the scanner was seized. Since this action was taken as a precaution (the Court, at the time, agreed with the plaintiff that once the exhibition was over, the alleged device might leave the country), Thor3D was not informed ahead of time, nor had a chance to voice its opposition. Several months later, there was a hearing in which we finally had a chance to present our arguments before a judge and in March 2016, the court sided with us. It agreed that the prototype should not have been confiscated in the first place, as Artec Europe S.a.r.l. did not prove that it had exclusive rights to what it claimed was “its” technology (regardless of whether Thor3D used it in its scanners….which it didn’t). The decision was upheld again in August 2016, after Artec Europe S.a.r.l appealed. We would like to take this opportunity to make several things clear:

There have never been any restrictions on the sale of Thor3D technology, anywhere in the world.

Thor3D technology (hardware & software) is fully-protected by international patents and registrations/certifications.

Thor3D, in its products, has never used software code that it did not have rights to.

In conclusion, while we are happy at the positive outcome of this legal proceeding, we are a bit saddened that our customers and partners around the world had to be involved. We take this opportunity to thank our ever-growing network of distributors. Thank you for believing in our team and in our technology and creating a thriving, fruitful partnership.